I'd passed along the now-famous photo first thing yesterday morning, in a post with the minimal title "A photo."
After a few people had commented, I added one more thing, tucked away in the comments: "It's a lovely, expressive photograph, the artwork of human beings. I don't believe the dog knows his master is in the casket." That's as much as I thought I should say.
But here's Slate's Ruth Graham:
It’s wonderful for Bush that he had a trained service animal like Sully available to him [for 6] months. It’s a good thing that the dog is moving on to another gig where he can be helpful to other people (rather than becoming another Bush family pet). But it’s a bit demented to project soul-wrenching grief onto a dog’s decision to lie down in front of a casket. Is Sully “heroic” for learning to obey the human beings who taught him to perform certain tasks? Does the photo say anything special about this dog’s particular loyalty or judgment, or is he just … there? Also, if dogs are subject to praise for obeying their masters, what do we do about the pets who eat their owners’ dead (or even just passed-out) bodies?...I'd go further than Graham on one point. I don't think it was the "dog's decision to lie down in front of the casket." I think he was brought in and commanded to lie down, which he did because of his training. But I don't agree that it's "demented" to project human emotion onto the dog. It's what we do. It's human nature. Dog nature is to respond to human training and commands, and human nature is to understand reality through reason and emotion. We make art that stimulates and stabilizes our emotions as we grasp for meaning in the face of the reality we know too well: Death. The dog knows little about death and nothing about photography, the American flag, and the contents of the wooden box. The dog is not demented — he's not suffering "soul-wrenching grief" — but neither are the people who felt calmed and exalted by his lying there on the carpet.
This is simply a photograph of a dog doing something dogs love to do: Lie down. The frenzy around it captures something humans love to do, too: Project our own emotional needs onto animals.
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115 comments:
It's what we do. It's human nature.
People on the left being insufferable jerks in saying the things they have said about all this is not human nature. It is a choice. They choose to be obnoxious and make the world a more unfriendly, contentious place.
I wonder how Ruth Graham's tapeworms feel about her.
And such is the nature of the internet.
So what? This is how gross the left have become. We must dissect the dog and remove any of the sentiment that might make us feel something positive for a man not a democrat.
Pretty Sure SLATE(D) would not dissect the Obama funeral.
I don't know about you, but I'm tired of being constantly scolded. FTR, the dog probably is aware his human companion is inside the coffin. Dogs can find their owner's grave in the middle of a cemetery. I don't dismiss the idea Sully was walked into the room and told to lie down for the photo, but that doesn't negate his knowing he's in the presence of the man he's been faithfully serving.
It's a touching photo. But it's just a photo. Admire it or not for the artistry. Don't use your political likes or dislikes to ascribe feelings to the dog, or to the people who enjoy the artwork.
I approve of the artistry. I think it sends a beautiful artistic message. But, just like when I see Kevin Costner dancing in wheat fields in Dances with Wolves, I know it's all for artistic effect.
God, I am so tired of cynics. I doubt Ms Graham is a dog lover. I doubt she ever experienced the love these incredible creatures have for us. Doesn't matter how long you have had the this dog. It loves everyone.
Second, this is an image of grief for a past President who lead this nation at a time of crisis in the world. Just leave it at that!
Everybody knows dogs don't love Republicans.
Yes, the Dog knows bush is in the casket. He can smell him.
Someone just wrote a piece that expressed dissatisfaction and points-of-etiquette over taking a picture of a dog laying in front of a casket. Not just any casket...its owner's.
Let that sink in.
I pray daily for the sweet meteor-o-death or the Carrington-style solar event that will shut down the internet for, let's say, oh, a year. I would survive taking a break, but I'm convinced these people couldn't. Their anger, hatred and rage is a ouroboros that without further feedstock would eat itself up. The internet is that food, its absence would be fatal.
Yes, the writers are against Sentimentality about Dogs.
They're tough guys. When it hurts the Republicans.
If it was Jimmy Carter's dog they would've said zero.
I'm not joking. Everything they do is politics.
I offered to set up a device where women would be asked to step on a mark on the floor and a hand would come out of a box to goose them. The Bush family chose to go with the dog.
Dogs live by smell. That's why few dogs are ever fooled by mirrors (unlike cats).
If it doesn't smell, its not there.
Great art endures but Sturgeon's law is overly optimistic by an order of magnitude.
I can still cry when I think of the story of Hachiko. The tribute statue to him is still a meeting place in the middle of one of the world's most populous and busy cities. People love dogs, and they love the devotion of dogs. Who is the person who thinks they need to nay-say that?
Someone should post a picture of the Clinton's dog that was murdered after they no longer needed a publicity/goodwill stunt. Poor, Buddy!
And yes, I would guess the dog can recognize the smell of GHWB, even if just in his clothes.
When the Marxists dreamed of creating the NEW MAN, they had to see that the among the results of their efforts we would find this hapless scribe filling space for an online magazine. All that is not material is nowt. You must not polish the old trusted relationships, even between a man and a dog.
Need a Bush Derangement Syndrome tag. She objects to the expression of sorrow.
Perhaps Mueller should get to the bottom of it.
Cat owner.
-XC
I agree that the photo was staged. Once again, because we are gullible chumps, we have been manipulated by an untrustworthy media. We all know that this dog could care less about this old dead bastard.
"Who is the person who thinks they need to nay-say that?"
A horse person?
Hahahhahaaha!
I'll grant that the photo feels a tad staged and photo oppy, but I think it's a little much to infer that the dog has no idea that a person he's bonded with for 6 months isn't in the coffin. Dogs have excellent senses of smell after all. Or to imply that the dog isn't affected by this and that it's somehow "demented" to project "soul-wrenching grief" onto the dog or whatever.
Good grief... these people. There doesn't seem to be anything that they won't destroy or mock if it reflects remotely positively or humanizes any Republican.
neigh-say
Slate is a "publication" which is owned, written, and read exclusively by miserable lefty twats. That service dog should shit on that awful author's ugly face.
Ruth Graham is a bitch. No pun intended.
Darrell said...
I offered to set up a device where women would be asked to step on a mark on the floor and a hand would come out of a box to goose them. The Bush family chose to go with the dog.
It might have been considered in poor taste that the box you were going to use was, in fact, the casket.
"We make art that stimulates and stabilizes our emotions as we grasp for meaning in the face of the reality we know too well: Death."
Am I gonna make love with Christina and Monique tonight? Yeah! Hell, yes! Guilty. You caught me out. Yeah. But only because it's part of my process...
There are two things in this world: Wonderful, visceral, sexy sex...and death. Horrible, boring death. Now, I'm gonna go off and have some sex with these girls before I die.
Go ahead. If you guys wanna join, that's cool. But don't look at me in the eye. It puts me off.
The winds of change now OK female writers throwing shade on the deceased...after all he was an actual White Male Patriarch of a family of old money, Banking wealth who had been assigned by his family connections to get publicity as our UN Ambassador and then to run the CIA that ran the world.
The Bush family can be grateful that Jeb! didn't win the Presidency. I don't think the mourning expressed for the patriarch would have been quite so acute. We would hear much of the dark shadow he cast over American life. We would be asked to look upon that well fed, well cared for dog and ponder all the orphaned, hungry children in the world that are the true legacy of the Bush family.......Fortunately Trump is President and we can look upon the remains of Bush and mourn what we have lost.
Fake media is fake all the way to the bone.
Obama ate dog.
The left MUST respond to anything that evokes sympathy around a Republican. MUST. It is in their nature. They are emotionally unstable for the rest of the day if they don't respond.
Liberal/Progressive hatred has sterilized Liberal/Progressive emotional lives. They are now prepared to conduct Stalinesque brutality against political enemies. They'd induce a famine on the Midwest, if they could, to eliminate people who love America.
Charming, aren't they?
I'm one of those co-workers who will point out when a funny video making the rounds is fake - when the humor relies completely on the event being real (See: "Drunk Santa stumbling around parking garage.")
I don't mind gently pointing out reality when crowd-sourced fantasy is going a little too far.
Romney’s dog will be placed in a cage on top of his casket.
Obama’s dog wil be in his digestive system in his casket.
Bush was good with dogs.
Dogs get attached to their humans for much the same reason that humans get attached to their luxury domesticants. Slate objects, not because they have some deep point that needs making, but because they're jerks compelled to announce to the world that they are jerks.
She doubles down-
Ruth Graham
Verified account @publicroad
Ruth Graham Retweeted John Cardillo
Sorry for "bringing you down" from the ... joy ... of imagining a dog was grieving?
Bush had been married 73 years when his wife died in April. It’s nice he had this dog for the last six months.
You’d have to die really young to have a dog that was a lifelong companion.
"The frenzy"
Slate's Ruth Graham's frenzy.
Anyone think 3 year old JFK junior had any idea what was going on when he saluted his dad’s casket?
If Graham had any guys she would point that out.
The service dog is doing what he was trained to do, which is much more humane than what Ruth Graham was trained to do at Journalism! school or Slate.
And...don't underestimate a dog's ability to judge the vibe in the air. They do that better than humans. They know when there's a room full of sadness, or joy, or fear, or anger. They respond accordingly.
> I don't agree that it's "demented" to project human emotion onto the dog. It's what we do. It's human nature.
"anthropomorphize"
to ascribe human form or attributes to (an animal, plant, material object, etc.).
He’s a service dog who had been with the president for six months, not his lifelong companion.
Slate's own subtitle undermines their premise. The message form Slate is don't believe the photo because the dog hadn't been with the President long enough to bond So if the dog had been a lifetime companion (I guess the dog's life, not the President's) we could believe the photo.
Slate is Stupid.
But it’s a bit demented to project soul-wrenching grief onto a dog’s decision to lie down in front of a casket.
It is not enough for Ruth Graham to make the case that the picture was likely staged, the author seems compelled to shame anyone who believes otherwise.
Whatever Sully's motivations, I suspect that he DID know his master was in the casket. His sense of smell is at least that good.
Slate folks must be a blast at funerals. "Too bad for you your mother/husband/child is now a mass of decomposing protoplasm."
MayBee. 9:32:
"I can still cry when I think of the story of Hachiko." I didn't know that one until just now. That's touching. Just recently I came across the story of a young man, 33 years old, who suffered from a bad headache that turned out to be a cerebral hemorrhage. And while he was dying, the hospital let the family bring his beloved dog in to him so that, in his sister's words, "she would know why her human never came home." I found it heartwrenching - the dog, the sister's words, the poor parents helping the dog up to him.
mccullough:
"Romney’s dog will be placed in a cage on top of his casket."
Thanks. I needed that laugh!
(But you don't think a 3-year-old can understand never seeing his dad again? I can imagine it. I doubt that at 2 or younger a kid would understand anything except how sad the people around him were.)
Once again the Left proves that they are shit.
Insufferable, pedantic spoil sports. Lighten up Francis.
I just scrolled down to the Times story on "gender reveal parties." Is the theme for the day "liberals indulging their shitty inner selves by needlessly attacking pleasant cultural moments"?
The dog knows little about death and nothing about photography, the American flag, and the contents of the wooden box.
If you just came upon that box would you know anything of its contents? We know only of its contents what the media tells us.
Frankly the dog has a better sense of whether GHWB is in there than you or I do.
As for death, photography, and the American flag, most people don't know much about those things either.
Bush didn't do enough to warrant the McCain funeral treatment from the left. He didn't disinvite Trump to the funeral or betray the GOP in a time of political need. He betrayed his own No New Taxes pledge, which you'd think would count, since it's the left that likes taxes, and some believe it cost Bush a second term. Not enough, apparently...
A planned manipulation of emotions much like the mothers w/children in the Caravan. And a good one.
Althouse is suffering from Psych 101 training. Don't anthropomorphize, is the rule there.
Trainers don't think that way.
Whatever happened to the Obama dog? Did Barry eat it, or did they just have it removed because they didn't need the photos for the public relations that they were just a normal family.
The dog may well have developed an attachment to GHWB, and may be feeling his loss. That's nice. But the only reason to stage and publish a picture of this nature is for propaganda purposes, to further the idea that, not just Bush, but all our leaders (who are actually our hirees) are wise, humane, caring "reg'lar folks."
This may be pertinent to their families and friends, but not to us. Our only concern with them, even in death, is how they performed in office, nothing else. That they had pets or service animals who cared about them means bupkus.
Notice how these cretins are all city slickers? Can't tell a cow patty from a peppermint patty. That explains the odor that hangs on them.
Very good, Mr. Cook for the "propaganda purpose" phrase.
That's better than my using "public relations".
Actually, "public relations," "advertising," and "propaganda" are all synonymous. My uncle, a rock-ribbed conservative, was an advertising man, the founder and head of what was, during his tenure, the largest advertising agency (by billings) in the state of Florida. Once, at a family dinner, I said something to him about advertising being propaganda. (It was not said or meant in an accusatory way, but something that came up in conversation.) Others in the family objected, as if I were somehow insulting my uncle's business activities, but he calmly shushed them and acknowledged that advertising was, indeed, propaganda.
The dog has more humanity then slates editorial board,
It may be propaganda, but I and, I bet, most people when looking at that picture, aren't thinking about Bush. We're thinking about the dog, dogs in general, our own dogs, and especially, if we had a real childhood, the dog we had when we were 10. And it makes us sad that the dog we had when we were 10 is no longer with us.
I don't understand the fuss. Unlike reptiles, mammals do feel emotion. It's not anthropomorphism. There are other higher brain functions that they aren't as good at.
No idea whether this particular dog feels grief about its owner, of course. But that's true for someone's daughter as well. And if you ask her she probably won't tell you either.
Unknown: "anthropomorphize"
to ascribe human form or attributes to (an animal, plant, material object, etc.).
Just don't anthropomorphize computers - they hate it when you do that.
"But here's Slate's Ruth Graham:
It’s wonderful for Bush that he had a trained service animal like Sully available to him [for 6] months. It’s a good thing that the dog is moving on to another gig where he can be helpful to other people (rather than becoming another Bush family pet). But it’s a bit demented to project soul-wrenching grief onto a dog’s decision to lie down in front of a casket. "
No made up photos like fake israeli's shooting kids, fake mothers crossing borders, fake democrat causes are all that should ever be done.
STFU you ridiculous person.
poor sullen Sully.
lie down with RINO's, wake up with spiteful Libs
I get what the divine Ms. A is saying, but I have to push back a bit. Dogs like Sully are trained to bond with the person to whom they are providing service. It's true Sully will serve a greater variety of people at the National Military Medical Center (the now combined Walter Reed Army Med Ctr and Bethesda Naval Hospital). But dogs can smell dope under all kinds of masking odors, they can smell cancers and hormones that are precursors to human seizures, etc. Even if President Bush 41 has been embalmed, I'll wager that Sully has some inkling of what's in the casket. This is no different than the pictures I've seen of dogs lying in front of caskets for military KIAs who've come home. Some might have been staged but I think some are genuine. Finally, it's not really about Sully. Anthropomorphizing the animal is about us and our own reflections on mortality, loyalty, etc.
Dogs have no free will; make no decisions. They only do what they are told and trained to do.
Dogs feel all sorts of emotions...just not grieving.
Do I have that right?
My father came to live with us after his Alzheimer's diagnosis. Our dogs knew him and seemed to want to help him. They stayed close by his side the whole time he was alive, giving him comfort, making him smile, even taking walks with them. When he became ill and lapsed into a coma, they took turns staying beside his bed. After he died, quietly at home, they wouldn't go back into his room. They knew he was gone. Their job was completed.
Residents of the Highway of Death could not be reached for comment.
what do we do about the pets who eat their owners’ dead (or even just passed-out) bodies?.
WTF? Is this a thing now, or is she a paranoid drinker?
I don't waste a millisecond of my time worrying about what Ruth Graham thinks, writes, or emits out of any orifice of her body including her mouth. Sometimes tiresome twit is just a tiresome twit.
Slate deceives itself when it believes that its writers do so on stone tablets. It is not wisdom for the ages that it purveys.
"Residents of the Highway of Death could not be reached for comment."
Yep. I bet plenty of them had dogs who missed them. And families.
As to dogs and scent, they smell stuff that's way down past undetectable.
On top of that, one scent doesn't mask another. Each exists in its own space for the dog.
A particular child walked down this road, along with a hundred cars, one leaking gasoline. No problem.
Training a dog to track: you don't train him to track but to stay on the track you start him on. He already knows how to track for stuff that he wants. He has to do it for stuff that you want.
Our only concern with them, even in death, is how they performed in office, nothing else.
Speak for yourself, asshole. They're family and friends to people who aren't you.
I appreciate the fact that a Slate writer is reminding the world that Slate has always hated every Republican, perhaps going back as far as Lincoln. And that the lionizing of President George H.W. Bush in some parts of the mainstream media is very different from how every Bush has been treated as a public office holder or especially as a candidate for elective office.
Inosfar as the mainstream media now wishes to make comparisons to the Trump presidency, that's okay, and there is considerable merit to the notion. But what I remember as a Republican who voted for a Bush in every primary and in every general election on which a Bush appeared on a ballot in my state, is that the mainstream media never did them any favors, and generally attempted to harm their interests at every turn.
The mainstream could have made a much more effective case that the Trump Presidency is a very different and far more negative American era than the Bush 41 Presidency, if only the mainstream media was not the boy who cried wolf when it comes to every single Republican running for office.
I'd be okay with Ruth Graham being muzzled. Or spayed. Or euthanized.
The photo of the dog by the casket was obviously staged. BFD
There was no reason for the dog to even be there (near the casket) since his job was finished. Bush doesn't need him anymore.
The dog probably liked George Bush, however, it was just a job for the dog for a short period of time.
Good dog, to obey orders and be so helpful. (THAT would have been a better story than the fake grieving dog at the casket)
The dog will soon be somebody else's service animal and maybe someday retire to be just a pet.
None of that really makes any difference.
HOWEVER, what I really resent is the smarmy and ham handed attempt to manipulate our feelings (didn't work for me) and make everyone have "feelings" ..aaaaw how sweet.....about GW Bush and his oh so cute dog. Don't try to tug on my heartstrings with a fake photo. Fake news.
Jon Passantino: “This was clearly written by a cat.”
I also resent the fake smarmy photos of the poor children in the fake 'caravan'. Staged photos of injured innocents in Iraq or some other Hell Hole. Staged and fake photos meant to deceive.
These things are staged, over and over, to try to manipulate us.
The sad thing is that when there is a REAL photo of real events, we will have been desensitized and not have the desired emotional reaction that they want us to have, or that we should have.
I haven't seen the photo, but my daughter mentioned it. It strikes me as contrived, so I'm not likely to find any sentimental value in it. Frankly, why was the dog there? Mr. Bush died in Texas; who the hell decided to transport the damn dog to Washington? It certainly wasn't for the edification of the dog!
What you want is to line up a bunch of coffins and see if the dog can find the right one.
Ah, Dust Bunny Queen. You freeze the cockles of my heart.
Tomcc, the photo was taken in Texas. If they'd dragged the dog to the Rotunda, Graham would have a case.
rhhardin, all the coffins have to be occupied, of course. Need a busy time at the funeral parlor, unless Houston is a slaughter house.
the photo was taken in Texas. If they'd dragged the dog to the Rotunda, Graham would have a case
There was no reason to drag the dog to any place.
Even IF the dog had been a life long companion, there would be even more reason NOT to put the poor dog through the emotional turmoil of attending a funeral.
Funerals are for the living and stressful enough for humans. Leave the dog out of it.
Sorry Roy....I'm a realist.
Slate became Salon so gradually we hardly noticed or cared.
The best thing about leftists being the most miserable people on the planet?
They deserve their misery.
Blogger Ralph L said...
Tomcc, the photo was taken in Texas. If they'd dragged the dog to the Rotunda, Graham would have a case.
The dog was at the Rotunda this morning.
I share Althouse’s general view on this subject.
Hey Slate,
Are you proud of your unbridled hatred? Is this what you do for the world? Is that your chosen occupation - what you do for money? Nice. Very nice. What would we do without you?
Cat lady. The only question left is how many?
Open the pod bay door, Hal.
I'm sorry, I can't do that, Dave.
"Just don't anthropomorphize computers - they hate it when you do that."
Boy! No kidding!
If any of my dogs were starving to death, and Ruth Graham was starving to death,
I let Ruth Graham die and then feed her to my dogs!!
The dog was at the Rotunda this morning.
That's it. I'm done with the Bushes.
We had enough grandiose service with McCain's apotheosis, now we're getting "humble" warmth piled on top.
Everyone go watch the Futurama episode about Fry's dog. Come back and discuss when you're done bawling.
I'm shocked to learn that a 94-year-old man's service dog was not his lifelong companion.
I wonder how the clip of 95-year-old Bob Dole rising from his wheelchair (with help) to salute Bush's casket will be mocked.
> mammals do feel emotion. It's not anthropomorphism
My hamster snickers watched the funeral. he looked at me and I know he was thinking
"Why did Trump put those children in cages?"
Snickers likes his cage.
And his wheel.
I know he does.
> What you want is to line up a bunch of coffins and see if the dog can find the right one.
If the dog truly loved Old Man Bush,
he would have asked to be buried with his King.
The first thing the dog whisperer usually tells families is
stop treating the dog like a baby human
Not all dogs are that noble. My last pooch looked upon me as 180 pounds of fresh dogfood on the hoof. I haven't had another since.
I detest these staged shed-the-tear / tug-the-heartstrings nonsense.
The dog was bad enough, but to wheel Bob Dole in, help him struggle to his feet for a momentary pause for a salute,
Give. Us. A. Frappin' Break!
We need some pictures of the dog doing other more doggy things, like licking his balls, humping somebody's leg, or watering a tree.
I'm at a loss why anyone has any opinion of how other people run a state funeral. None of this affects anyone.
I have a friend that part-times at a funeral home. Some of the stories he tells are real head shakers. But as much as the moral busy bodies insist otherwise, there is no 'proper'way.
The small village I grew up in had its funeral customs. They were noticeably different from the next village north of us. I suspect, due mostly to ethnic differences.
What makes you think that dogs don't grieve (in some dog fashion)? I've seen plenty of photos and stories about dogs that seem "depressed" when another dog in the household or on the farm dies. Or when dogs seemingly are "grieving" at the passing of their owner. They even mope around the house when their master (am I still allowed to use that word?) goes into the hospital or on a business trip. I am not sure that "grieving" is the correct word, hence the quotes. But some dogs FEEL something at certain times.
The Slate writer is just a piece of human garbage that even dogs should ignore.
THEOLDMAN
In Stork they Trust.
"'Our only concern with them, even in death, is how they performed in office, nothing else.'
"Speak for yourself, asshole. They're family and friends to people who aren't you."
Sure, as I acknowledged in my statement. They're not me...or you, or hundreds of millions of other American citizens. So, to repeat...our only concern with them, even in death, is how they performed in office. (Most, including GHWB, aren't worth remembering.)
"HOWEVER, what I really resent is the smarmy and ham handed attempt to manipulate our feelings (didn't work for me) and make everyone have "feelings" ..aaaaw how sweet.....about GW Bush and his oh so cute dog. Don't try to tug on my heartstrings with a fake photo. Fake news."
As I said: propaganda.
"I haven't seen the photo, but my daughter mentioned it. It strikes me as contrived, so I'm not likely to find any sentimental value in it. Frankly, why was the dog there? Mr. Bush died in Texas; who the hell decided to transport the damn dog to Washington? It certainly wasn't for the edification of the dog!"
Propaganda.
IOW, Slate wants to sneer and mock because....Bush.
"The dog knows little about death and nothing about photography..."
When our bunny rabbit died, our dog, Jethro lay down beside the dead bunny and stayed there all day until sunset before he moved or ate or anything. Animals know death and respect death.
Maybe such photos are not so much about the subjects but allow us to reflect on our own lives?
Hence the negativity about it is a reflection on those expressing the negativity.
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